Rather than negotiate in good faith with Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs, the radical GQP leaders of the Arizona House and Senate went with a political stunt: they would pass a “skinny budget” that Gov. Hobbs would veto, in order to lay down a marker for the MAGA Fascist position from which they could fundraise off the GQP crazy base for months until serious budget negotiations begin in April or May. It is also likely the MAGA Fascists will shut down the government in July (the budget is due by July 1) in an attempt to steamroll Gov. Hobbs. (The last time this occurred was under a Republican Governor, Jan Brewer).
The political stunt went off without a hitch in the Senate. The Arizona Mirror reports, Senate Republicans pass ‘skinny budget’ that Hobbs will veto:
Senate Republicans passed a “skinny budget” Wednesday afternoon that merely extends much of the $18 billion budget passed last year for another 12 months, despite Gov. Katie Hobbs saying that she intends to veto it if it reaches her desk.
The Republican budget proposal is a continuation of last year’s bipartisan budget and is being sold by GOP lawmakers as a way to ensure economic stability for the state as the nation is bracing for a possible economic recession.
I hate to rain on your parade, but there is no evidence of a recession in sight. The US economy is doing better than markets are pricing in so it could well avoid a recession, top strategists say, and What Recession?: Businesses are hiring. Inflation is slowing. And widely expected economic trouble still hasn’t come to pass.
Last month, Republican lawmakers said they would only negotiate with Hobbs, a Democrat, on state spending after their continuation budget was signed into law. Though they have presented it as a way to ensure state government won’t shut down in July if the two sides fail to agree on a broader budget plan, the practical effect of doing so would all but guarantee a stalemate because there would be no incentive for GOP legislators to agree to spending any of the state’s nearly $2 billion in surplus cash.
Hobbs’ office signaled earlier this week that she intends to veto the budget plan, calling it a “hollow political stunt” that lacked “bipartisan input or negotiating.” Senate Democrats reiterated that view Wednesday afternoon.
“I feel like this has been a really cheap shot to our governor and our Democrats,” Sen. Lela Alston, D-Phoenix, said when voting no on one of the multiple budget bills before the Senate.
Her Republican colleagues, particularly, Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, who sponsored the budget bills, reiterated that the bills were not meant to “disrespect” any member of the legislature.
“This budget is not meant to disrespect anyone. This budget is meant to reassure everyone who relies on state expenditures,” he said, adding that it is the start of the process as lawmakers will still have the surplus cash to contend with. “I look forward to talking with my Democrat colleagues, my constituents, with everybody if this should pass.” [He is, as always, full o’shit.]
But Democrats hammered on Republicans for devoting time to the political theater of passing a spending plan that will be swiftly vetoed instead of tackling pressing problems, like an impending $1.4 billion cut to school spending.
If lawmakers don’t waive a constitutional school spending limit before March 1, school districts will be forced to make drastic cuts that could result in widespread furloughs and school closures.
“We need to make sure that the outdated school spending limit gets addressed and it gets addressed immediately,” Senate Democratic Leader Raquel Terán said.
Leader of Arizona's largest business organization urges Legislature to raise school-spending limit before March 1 deadline.
▶️GOP Sen. Ken Bennett, sponsor of Senate resolution to lift cap, tells me floor vote pushed back a day, until Tuesday. #SCR1009 https://t.co/oyu32OIkkt— Brahm Resnik (@brahmresnik) February 6, 2023
All the budget bills passed out of the Senate along party lines with the support of the chamber’s 16 Republicans.
“Now that the budget is out, is it appropriate to offer a Sine Die motion?” Alston said to laughs from the rest of the Senate.
In keeping with past practice of one party controlled state government in which a secretly negotiated budget between GQP leaders is sprung upon the legislature late in the session, they are told that they must vote for the budget, and then the chambers move to an eleventh hour rocket docket of bills which were part of the promises made to GQP legislators in order to get their votes, and then declare sine die, often in the wee hours of the early morning.
Shortly after the Senate voted on its budget, the House Appropriations Committee swiftly approved identical spending bills. The committee accepted no testimony on the budget proposal and voted on all 13 bills in a single vote, prompting Rep. Athena Salman, D-Tempe, to call it a “sham budget and a sham process.”
A funny thing happened on the road to GQP fascism. A true believer MAGA/QAnon election denier who has promised not to vote for any bill so long as “Krazy Kari” Lake is not declared the winner of the 2022 election and installed as the next governor of Arizona, proved that she is an ideological extremist true to her word.
The Arizona Mirror reports, A single Republican holdout doomed the GOP’s ‘skinny budget’ on Monday:
The Republican-led effort to pass a “skinny budget” has hit a momentary roadblock in the Arizona House of Representatives, where a sole Republican’s refusal to vote for the spending package doomed the budget.
Rep. Liz Harris, R-Chandler (above), voted no on the first bill that is part of the major Republican budget proposal that merely extends much of the $18 billion budget passed last year for another 12 months. Republicans have a one-vote majority in the chamber, so her opposition meant the bill failed.
Harris did not respond to multiple requests for comment as to why she voted no on the budget bill. Harris, a local real estate agent turned election “fraud” investigator is most famous for conducting a highly flawed canvass of the presidential election in an attempt to prove voter “fraud.”
Her vote against the GOP spending plan may be the freshman lawmaker following through on a pledge she made late last year that she would not vote for any legislation until the 2022 election is redone. [Um, voting no on a bill is still voting, just to point out the obvious flaw in your plan.] Harris has been a vocal proponent of the false claims that the 2020 and 2022 elections were marred by fraud and rigged against Republicans.
There is no proof of widespread voter fraud.
Harris was joined in voting against the budget by fellow Republican David Livingston, who [then] voted no to allow Republicans to use a procedural move to allow the bill to be reconsidered in the next 14 days.
[On] the floor, Livingston said he was expecting a party-line vote but “not a tie,” as he quickly asked to change his vote in order to make sure there was a path to reconsider the measure. Shortly after, the House recessed and members left for their respective committee assignments.
Last year’s budget was controversial for some Republicans, and several voted against the spending, citing concerns that it was too much money. But all of those returning legislators have voted for this year’s version of the same budget. [Because of the certainty that Gov. Hobbs will veto it.]
Coup Plotter co-conspirator and fake GQP elector, Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, who has been in Arizona Senate promotional videos promoting the GOP “skinny budget,” was among those who rejected the proposal last year. Through a Senate spokeswoman, Hoffman said he supports the spending this year because the proposal doesn’t include roughly $2.3 billion in one-time funding allocations.
Democratic members argued, however, that what made last year’s budget a bipartisan success was the one-time spending, some of which is not present in this version of the budget and would require re-votes for re-appropriation for those funds.
“These bills currently do not reflect what I voted on back a few months ago,” Sen. Theresa Hatathlie, D-Coal Mine Canyon, said.
This is the stalemate that the Arizona Freedom (sic) [Fascist] Caucus wants in order to shut down the government in July. Their only goal is to sabotage the governorship of Katie Hobbs, the will of the voters and good governance be damned.
UPDATE: It will take just a few Republicans to cross the aisle and to join all Democrats to pass a budget this year. If Republicans are serious about good governance (they are not) they would not allow this bomb thrower nut job to hold the legislature hostage. She only has power so long as all Republicans vote in lockstep to take the state off the cliff in July.
So, it looks like the #azleg GOP won't be passing a budget this year unless it slashes some $5 billion in spending 🙃 https://t.co/gBHD9QIkL2
— Jim Small (@JimSmall) February 10, 2023
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